Giving my Heart Away
by Hannah-MaKayla
Summary: I am Ignis, Adrea's mate. This is the story of when I gave Ardea my heart.


The Fall

It was a day like any other, me watching her from afar, her stealing glances at me when she thought I wasn't looking. Her eyes are the most vivid orange, one that I thought could only be seen in the sun's last rays. It seemed as if it belonged to an ethereal being, which in my eyes, she is.

Her scales are the most amazing things I had seen in my life. They have this depth that could be found in the same flames that reside in her heart. Her chest was layered with the amazing flickers of flame. The colors were always changing from yellow to orange to red and occasionally a violet she inherited from her father. The rest were like the night sky, pitch black with the rare trace of deep blue. She looked like a bed of coals, oh, but she is so much more than that.

It is so sad to know that she doesn't see what I see. I tell her that I see something that couldn't be defined in words. She is my whole world, and when she smiles, I just want to freeze time stay in that moment. When I see her feel insecure, I want to wrap her up and take her to a place where no one would ever make her feel that way again.

I digress. I mean to tell you about the night I fell into that abyss that is love. I had just bought her a necklace, the one she treasures so. I remember her having a look of disappointment when I said it was for Ashbel. But she covered it well, saying that my sister would love it. I invited her to go night-watching in the park. She accepted. We strolled close enough so that our tails and wings would brush. I wanted to kneel then and there and give her that necklace, and beg her to be mine. I held back, knowing that the moment would come.

We laid in the grass. I could tell that she was nervous. I had picked up on the nervous tell-tale twitch of her tail when we trained together at the Penn. I was nervous too. She told me about the situation with her father and mother and stepmother too. After she finished, I turned to her, about to confess my love when we heard an earsplitting screech. We swung our heads in the direction of the screech and took off. It was Cynder, Ardea's mother and her step mother, Spangler. They were going at each others throats. Spangler obviously had no idea what she was up against.

Cynder was killed and Ardea took it out on Spangler, killing her in full view of Spangler's daughters, the Guardians, and Spyro. She soon collapsed in a heaping mass of tears. I picked her up and threw her on my back, the whole night now too sorrow and blood filled to propose. So I took her back to her room in her brother's house. She laid down on the palate of pillows, sobbing and shaking with grief. I held her to my chest, hurting for her. She had never cried like that. Never had I seen something like that. Sure, she cried when she got hurt in training and when she was cut by some broken glass in the alchemist's shop where she used to work, but those were silent tears. This was filled with grief, sadness, and complete suffering. Ardea fell asleep after awhile. I did too.

Years passed and our love grew. Cynder's death took a huge toll on the small family. Spyro became withdrawn, not speaking to anyone but Kadell. Ardea and her brother were brought closer together though. She and I were also closer than before. I asked for her hand in courtship a few seasons after that. She accepted and we became mates not long after. We also had a clutch of hatchlings. Our eldest son is named Isanguard. He has red scales with a depth like Ardea's and a spirit like mine. He is a clam dragon, but he has a fierce personality with a thirst to protect. Flamel is the middle child with bronze scales like mine. He is sleek unlike his muscled brother. He has a playful and roaming heart, one like my gypsy-like sister. Flamel has a serious side that comes out at the oddest of times.

My daughter is named Ember after Ardea's mother. She has the same moxie as those two, too.

Her scales are golden and shimmer like mine with an orange secondary color. She also has the same build as Cynder had and red horns that are shaped like hers. She is beautiful, even at a young age. Her brothers are extremely overprotective, as am I.

Spangler's daughters left when they were old enough, furious with Ardea and enraged that she had a happy life after her mother's death. Dea never felt bad for killing Spangler. She felt like it was the right thing to do- an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. The sisters took the name of Felin. The last we heard, they lived somewhere in Tall Plains.

Ardea still cries sometimes, but I am still with her, mind and soul. And that's the way it will always be.


End file.
